New tools, longstanding partnerships and additional resources could be the keys to bolster the defense industrial base.
uncertain
tools → bolster → base
The War Department is diversifying its inventory by working with startups and playing the long game through extended agreements with established contractors.
asserted
Department → diversify → contractors
"I do think these are unprecedented deals," Undersecretary of War for Acquisitions and Sustainment Michael Duffey said.
asserted
Duffey → think → Acquisitions
"Nobody's been able to deliver the quality and the performance that Tomahawk and the Patriot provide for our war fight."
asserted
Tomahawk → deliver → fight
The War Department has been announcing multi-year weapons production contracts.
asserted
Department → announce → contracts
Some agreements extend as long as seven years, including a $22.9 billion deal with Raytheon for Tomahawk missiles, a $1 billion framework with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin for THAAD components and a $58.62 billion contract with Lockheed Martin for Patriot Missile Segment Enhancements.
asserted
agreements → extend → Enhancements
"In the case of Patriots, it was a three-times production increase over what we were producing this past year," Duffey said.
asserted
Duffey → produce → what
"We have a lot of new entrants that are bringing new great technology into the industry."
asserted
that → have → industry
The War Department is also investing more in new technology.
asserted
Department → invest → technology
The Department of War Innovation Unit works with commercial companies and startups to adopt new weapons and defense capabilities.
asserted
Unit → work → weapons
Its budget has skyrocketed to nearly $1 billion in recent years.
asserted
budget → skyrocket → years
"I think the startups are going to be kind of the future.
asserted
startups → think → ?
The primes have their purpose.
asserted
primes → have → purpose
They build the big weapon systems.
asserted
They → build → systems
They build aircraft carriers.
asserted
They → build → carriers
But it takes a long time to move that ship in the right direction," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said.
asserted
McCaul → take → direction
"The startups, just like we saw in Ukraine, have this ability of innovation to move at a faster speed and a more innovative technology, more creativity in the process, out-of-the-box thinking that we desperately need for our defense industrial base.
asserted
we → see → base
Rocket Lab is one newer company that has increasingly been working with the War Department.
asserted
that → work → Department
Since the company was founded in 2006, it has received more than $2 billion in government contract awards.
asserted
it → found → awards
"I would say we've moving up the food chain, and now we are amongst the preeminent missile and missile defense test programs in the United States," Vice President of Global Launch Services at Rocket Lab Brian Rogers said.
asserted
Rogers → say → Lab
Rocket Lab has worked with the Department of War Innovation Unit to test its Haste Launch Vehicle, which the company says will help the U.S. accelerate future hypersonic capabilities.
asserted
U.S. → work → capabilities
"We've already done a number of launches," Rogers said.
asserted
Rogers → do → launches
"We got a lot more in the hopper, and it's all kinds of different technology applications."
asserted
it → get → applications
Defense technology company Castelion says one of its priorities is speeding up the manufacturing timeline.
asserted
one → say → timeline
"We believe that it's much faster if you just go out and build the object you're trying to build into inner manufacturing, and then you find all of the problems in that process, and you correct them," Castelion Co-Founder and CEO Bryon Hargis said.
asserted
Hargis → believe → them
"One of the things that we based the company on is really what worked in the Apollo era when we got to the moon as a country in under a decade.
asserted
we → base → decade
A lot of those practices have fallen out of favor.
asserted
lot → fall → favor
We're going back to what worked, and we're just implementing that again."
asserted
we → go → that
The War Department is investing in that strategy with a multi-year agreement to eventually field Castelion’s Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapon.
asserted
Department → invest → Weapon
"It's just the agreement to have a future agreement," Hargis said.
asserted
Hargis → say → agreement
"If we meet those performance targets that we set out and said we could do, the department is saying they're gonna come in and buy a tremendous amount of munitions."
uncertain
they → meet → munitions
Castelion has secured $500 million in U.S. military contracts over the past 18 months and recently announced $1 billion in funding.
asserted
Castelion → secure → funding
We have a tremendous opportunity with this administration and what the department is doing to bring in new entrants," Hargis said.
asserted
Hargis → have → entrants
"The key thing that I think has been missing in the past decades is that we do not build enough, we do not go test enough, and they're correcting that.
asserted
they → think → that
And that's going to lead to tremendous innovation in this space."
asserted
that → go → space
The Aporia
